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Spathi
The Spathi are a race of perpetual cowards who live in constant fear of an undetectable phantom called the Ultimate Evil, which they are convinced lives just beyond the reaches of their most powerful long-range sensors. Culture Societal Structure Spathi families are very large and the youngsters are called "encrustlings". It is claimed that the "prognosticators" will lose their tenure, causing the thousands of encrustlings of every one of them to go hungry. Their ruling class is known most often as the Safe Ones, also called the Spathi Ruling Council, the High Spathi Ruling Council, the High Ruling Council of Spathiwa, and the Spathi High Council. Religion The Spathi have a traditional daily prayer which reflects their general attitude towards life (which they name the "mortal helix"): "..Oh God... please don't let me die today! Tomorrow would be so much better!" The Spathi seem to have a pre-death ceremony, the ritual of Wezzy-Wezzah. The completion of this short ritual ensures a place in their secure afterlife. A noted attribute of the Spathi's afterworld is the absence of immortal, devouring monsters. However, the ritual of Wezzy-Wezzah is invalid unless performed on the moon of Spathiwa, or so is made up to convince anyone to take them home. Leisure activities A known leisure activity that the Spathi captains practice is playing a certain video game they recently acquired an open-source game strikingly similar to The Ur-Quan Masters. They mention having been bored until they bought the game. History The Spathi evolved on the lone planet; their name for their star is Yuffo and the planet, Spathiwa. In the 18th century, when their civilization was still at a Bronze Age level, their home planet has been beleaguered by a race of ravenous creatures called the Evil Ones who enjoyed eating Spathi, accelerating the advancement of their culture greatly — in less than a century, they had reached the Space Age, and finally took refuge from the Evil Ones on the Moon of Spathiwa. Hierarchy Status When the Spathi first encountered the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za, they wanted to warn them about the peril of the Evil Ones. However, the Ur-Quan broadcasted their usual message, throwing the Spathi Captain into an intense state of panic. In this state of panic, he uttered what happened to be The Words, causing the entire Ur-Quan fleet to stop in space and explain their reasons — though the Spathi didn't understand a word, being hidden under their shells the whole time. After six hours of combat, they surrendered to the Kzer-Za, who proceeded toward the Spathi temporary homeworld. They blasted parts of the moon into radioactive dust, and then invited the Safe Ones aboard the command chamber of Lord 1's Dreadnought, where they were offered the same choice given to each race, as dictated by the Path of Now and Forever: be a Fallow Slave (and thus send back a white rod) or Battle Thrall (sending back a black rod). The Spathi actually chose to be fallow slaves, being rather fond of the idea of being forever protected by an impenetrable Slave Shield. However, the Ur-Quan's Umgah servant who was to notify the Ur-Quan of the Spathi's choice mischievously switched the color of the rod. The Spathi attempted to rectify this, but the Ur-Quan would hear none of it - they would be Battle Thralls forever. According to them, the Spathi attempted to avoid combat as much as possible, only to receive three violent reprimands from the Ur-Quan, "each more strident than the last." When the Spathi learned that they were on the verge of being exterminated outright for their repeated disobedience, they set about their duties as battle thralls "with renewed vigor." Alternate Universe Versions Inferno Regime-Verse At some point during the first years of Hester Shaw's Regime, the Spathi were among the top targets for eradication by the Regime. During the Regime's conquest of Spathiwa, the Spathi fled the Yuffo system for Tarn-Vedra in the Andromeda galaxy, where they accepted the alliance into the Systems Commonwealth. It was there the Spathi High Council passed a new law dictating the existence of Hester's Regime as a crime. However, Hester's Regime eventually attacked and subjugated Tarn-Vedra, forcing the Spathi to flee as Hester's troops began slaughtering countless Spathi. As if Hester's Regime isn't their only threat, they were attacked by the Combine, the Shivans, the Xen Aliens, the Unknown Intellectual Mechanized Species, the Galaga, the Zangyack Empire, the Battura, the Bosconians and the Sadeen, as well as the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za Hierarchy of Battle Thralls and the Kohr-Ah.